Morrissey A-Z: "(The) Slum Mums"



Slightly different start...no screaming kids.
Shows run time of 4:22, & was quite optimistic, but it actually ends at 3:14, so not sure what that's all about.

Yes, download only & some ridiculous extra 'silence' added at the end to increase the playtime.
Sonically identical otherwise.
Regards,
FWD.
 
Thanks for the details. Nevertheless "the wrong mix"(too) if it's up to Alain Whyte (who actually shouldn't be heard on it).
 
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Yes, his writing style/poetic direction has changed. Surely this change is not lost on him.
And so it looks to me, this change in writing is a very conscious move on his part. Not only to write differently, but it’s part of a larger transformation to distance himself
from what he was, thought he was, or what people thought he was and still want him to be.
Which is where conflict for some fans begin, they simply can’t let go of an image of Morrissey that they identified so strongly with.
He seems more interested in emulating his favorite crooners these day, instead of being that frail, singing poet of the earlier days. While the latter suite him well at his older age, it is the former version of himself that drew many of us in and that he will be remembered for most fondly.
 
He seems more interested in emulating his favorite crooners these day, instead of being that frail, singing poet of the earlier days. While the latter suite him well at his older age,

I don’t know about that, but it does seem he’s shifted his focus more to his singing voice, so I can see an ‘emulating’ in that way, though that’s always been there.

it is the former version of himself that drew many of us in and that he will be remembered for most fondly.

Yeah, can’t really be a healthy behavior, this attachment. Though in a way, those people that can’t let go, could at least, still find comfort in the fact that the image will always be there to comfort them, even if he’s doing what he can, to be free of it.
 
That paper is such an interesting read, & made me wonder if Moz does this sort of thing instinctively, or deliberately.
Either way, he's a complete genius.
I agree with your judgment of the song, I have always loved this one
Its one that, for me, sits next to Art Hounds in terms of the spirit of disdain. In Art Hounds, as you are aware, M mocks the Middle Class ( city) Culture vultures. The type who don't really have any deep loves, so they hide this behind proxy socially respected artists and art pieces (which they possibly don't even really understand)

The type that loves the Guardian culture page, subscribe to the usual lefty politics of the age. They think they are "worldly" when in reality they are the biggest provincialists going. London really is brimming with these people these days.

This song is as scathing as Art Hounds. M takes aim at those loathable middle class, again, This type of middle-class person would help any old beggar from Africa or the Middle East but have nothing but disdain for the white working-class of England,
These people who work in the media and government forgo charity and a helping hand and in its place is hatred and open disrespect.
These people who make government policy that traps and squeezes the ever brave young mums. They aim to cut off any inch of progression.
Even if you go to uni, they await to pounce any time your accent slips or you have a gap in your cultural awareness.

These people could be the same type who are the art hounds or if not, they live in the same street and stand next to each other in a ethnic coffee shop

This quote "creates a song whose meaning relies on the ambiguous inter-relationship between the socio-political context, the lyrical content, and musical structure and sound as they relate to issues of gendered embodiment in particular."
Means nothing in particular , it could have been used in regard to songs from Bob Dylan to East 17
 
A day behind, but...

I have to say, my addled mind drew a brief blank when I saw this song title: The Slum Mums? One of the less memorable ‘You Are The Quarry’ b-sides - if my memory serves me?

Of course after the first few seconds the entire song bubbles up from the murky pools – how could I forget? The song has some pretty acerbic lyrics which I imagine Morrissey would get a lot of flak for should he have penned them today – is he really suggesting that this ‘slum’ family shuffle off somewhere to quietly kill themselves? Or is he suggesting that this is what the Labour government would like this family to do? Oh, how I wish Morrissey could perform such lyrics at the Eurovision Song Contest – just imagine the mortified faces of the buck-toothed judges from Luxembourg!
 
I don’t know about that, but it does seem he’s shifted his focus more to his singing voice, so I can see an ‘emulating’ in that way, though that’s always been there.
That’s what I meant, but I was inspired by that particular t-shirt « Morrissey is a crooner ».
Yeah, can’t really be a healthy behavior, this attachment. Though in a way, those people that can’t let go, could at least, still find comfort in the fact that the image will always be there to comfort them, even if he’s doing what he can, to be free of it.
I think it would not be very healthy for Morrissey if he was still that same frail poet singing about his misery 40 years later.
 
This had the potential to be something special if the musicians could've found another chord or two.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the song had more chord changes in it, but Morrissey didn’t think they worked with or worked against his singing and had them taken out. So maybe Morrissey can be to blame for that.


It’s sloppy in it’s arrangement (Jerry Finn?) there’s not much supporting of his vocal melody and the changes and dynamics are not defined. My favorite part (the chorus?) is when he comes to the line ‘but you can’t escape from the slum mums, because you are one.....’. Love the way he sings that, but it would have been great if some male vocals sang along with him (kind of like a football chant) to support him and that change, making it stronger.
 
With so many songs released in 2004 there was bound to be a duffer somewhere.

This isn't the worst song that Morrissey has composed, but it is charmless and tuneless.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 252nd from 264 solo songs.
 
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